Fantasy Cliches

You know the story of the princess who gets locked in a tower, and the knight needs to slay a dragon to rescue her?

What if the dragon was the princess’s friend? What if the dragon was the princess herself? What if it’s the dragon that the knight needs to rescue?

What about the story of the young hero who is prophesied to save the world?

What if the prophesy got lost? What if the hero’s old, wise mentor wasn’t so old or so wise at all? What if the prophesy picked the villain as the world’s savior?

What of the tales of the nature-loving elves or the brooding and stubborn dwarves?

What if the elves lived in deserts rather than forests? What if dwarves were an aquatic race rather than cave-dwellers? What if elves weren’t nimble and immortal, and dwarves weren’t short and strong? What if elves fought with poison instead of arrows and dwarves with spears instead of axes?